Late March marked the fifth anniversary of the publication of the report of Lord Sewell’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities (CRED). In spite of a suitably diverse group of commissioners (or perhaps because of that), it refused to blame “systemic racism” for the underachievement of certain ethnic minorities in the UK. It didn’t dismiss that hypothesis entirely, but concluded that other factors – class, geography and family background – were more important. This analysis (supported by lots of data) did little to protect the commissioners from the fury of the woke left, who denounced them for ignoring historical injustices.

Grievances previously felt by black Britons are now nursed by the white working class

Grievances previously felt by black Britons are now nursed by the white working class

Exhibit A in the report’s argument was the poor educational performance of white working-class boys. If “systemic racism” was so determinative, why did they do worse in their GCSEs than working-class Caribbean boys? Exhibits B, C and D illustrated the success of other ethnic groups, such as Africans, Indians and Chinese. Indeed, the single most successful demographic in England’s state schools,........

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